Video: Limbaugh laughs at Japan disaster, suggests Gaia struck on purpose because country was environmentally aware

LIMBAUGH: The Japanese have done so much to save the planet … and yet Gaia levels them [laughs], just wipes them out. Wipes out their nuclear plants, all kinds of radiation. What kind of payback is this? That is an excellent question. They invented the Prius. In fact, where Gaia blew up is right where they make all these electric cars. That’s where the tsunami hit. All those brand new electric cars sitting there on the lot. I like the way this guy was thinking. It’s like — it’s like Gaia hit the Prius and [Nissan] Leaf place. It’s like they were in the crosshairs, if we can use that word, it does. What is Gaia trying to tell us here? What is the mother of environmentalism trying to say with this hit? Great observation out there, Chris.

You just can’t make this stuff up. Indeed, this would be hard to believe — even for Limbaugh — if it weren’t all on video.

I agree with AmericaBlog: “If anyone on the left talked like this, the Republicans would have their job in a day. It really is a sign of how badly the powers-that-be on the left play the political game, that Rush Limbaugh is still on the air.”

LIMBAUGH: Does anybody know how much it cost to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina? Anybody have the number? Snerdley, they have started it. I have been to New Orleans. They have started rebuilding. It’s got to be several hundred billion, right? Has to be. I have been to New Orleans. They have started rebuilding. Don’t start getting snarky on me like that. When are they going to start rebuilding? They have.

Chris in Indianapolis, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Great to be on the program.

LIMBAUGH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: [Inaudible] conservative dittos.

LIMBAUGH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: I need some of your wisdom. I’m confused. At the top of the first hour, you played a clip. Diane Sawyer, I believe, about the recycling that is still going on in Japan.

LIMBAUGH: I did. You’re right.

CALLER: If these are the people that invented the Prius, have mastered public transportation, recycling, why did mother earth, Gaia if you will, hit them with this disaster?

LIMBAUGH: Well, that’s an interesting question….

The Japanese have done so much to save the planet. He’s right. They’ve given us the Prius. Even now, refugees are still recycling their garbage, and yet Gaia levels them [laughs], just wipes them out. Wipes out their nuclear plants, all kinds of radiation. What kind of payback is this? That is an excellent question. They invented the Prius. In fact, where Gaia blew up is right where they make all these electric cars. That’s where the tsunami hit. All those brand new electric cars sitting there on the lot. I like the way this guy was thinking. It’s like — it’s like Gaia hit the Prius and Leaf place. It’s like they were in the crosshairs, if we can use that word, it does. What is Gaia trying to tell us here? What is the mother of environmentalism trying to say with this hit? Great observation out there, Chris.

Here’s Tom in Naples, Florida. You’re next on the EIB network. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, Rush Limbaugh, how you doing?

LIMBAUGH: Fine sir, thanks much.

CALLER: Hey, I know, I’m calling about and I was trying to just add a little levity to the day. My issue is that I don’t want Obama to pick Ohio State in his brackets, because that’s who I’m picking.

AmericaBlog adds a useful explanation for those reading this from outside of America:

And for any Japanese media out there, you need to understand that this man is the number one radio personality for Republicans in our country. Every Republican presidential candidate and every Republican White House goes on Limbaugh’s radio show to try to curry his favor. Even the head of the Republican party does what Limbaugh wants. This isn’t just some crazy right-wing American guy. He’s a leader in the Republican party, and supported by all the leaders of the Republican party. You’re being attacked by a lead member of the Republican establishment in America. Let’s see if any Republican leaders have the courage to criticize Limbaugh for his comments. More likely, you’ll see them interviewing on his show again soon.

My only surprise is that it wasn’t much worse. Perhaps Limbaugh is saving the really nasty stuff for later.

I almost expect to see a time machine pop into existence on my front lawn, full of seriously p***ed off people from about the year 2100 who want to know what the heck we were thinking to tolerate CC deniers, thugs like Limbaugh, etc. for so long. Honestly, I wouldn’t have a good answer.

Sifting through CQ MoneyLine’s giant data pot I found a few radioactive morsels.

For starters, two of the nuclear industry’s top outfits together spent nearly $6 million lobbying Washington last year – an association of companies called the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), and a corporation, Exelon, which claims to own or operate “the largest nuclear fleet in the nation and the third largest fleet in the world.”

Rush’s definitely wrong about where the electric cars are made.
The Toyota Prius is manufactured near Nagoya, south of Tokyo, not in the path of the earthquake or tsunami. The Nissan Leaf is manufactured in Oppama, Yokosuka, also south of Tokyo.

The factory shutdowns are largely due to dependence on the electric supply. The vulnerability of the electric supply to forces of nature has become obvious, but the electric car factories are only temporarily shut down.

“Again, RL shows his intoleranc­e and ignorance. When the coming climate change disaster begin to strike with monthly regularity in years ahead, what few listeners he has left, will be living in caves.”

Actually, Limbaugh has it backward. A nuclear disaster is exactly what Gaia would do to get rid of us — drive us further into carbon energy. Gaia wouldn’t be fighting for Justice or handing out merit badges. She’d be trying to get rid of us.

Actually I think he does us a great service. His mouthing off on air sheds light to the rest of the world how pathetic he and his ilk are. The Koch boys et al likely mirror his demented mind, but they come off sweet as southern gentlemen in the press to the other neocons. Otherwise, they’d just go from day to day doing their evil deeds without much notice in the world. I hope he lives long enough to see the damage his words has fraught and that if there is a hell, that he’ll burn there forever and ever, amen.

His goal, accomplished, was to poke a stick into the eye of environmentalists by conflating Gaians with climate scientists and recyclers and tree-huggers and anyone else concerned about the future of the planet and offering his opinion that by her actions Gaia doesn’t really seem to like us. Don’t be mad, get even.

We are offering this nomination for Mr. Limbaugh’s nearly two decades of tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all mankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin.

J Bowers #30, considering the quality of (Ig)Nobel Peace Prize winners over the years, particularly in recent years, Limbaugh would be a worthy addition. If I might express my personal opinion, and avoid unpleasant and vituperative animadversions, I believe that here Mr Limbaugh exhibits certain behaviours, ie lack of human empathy and callous indifference to the suffering of others, that are absolutely ubiquitous on the Right, and are salient features of notorious psychopathologies. Certainly, in my opinion, such opinions are expressed over and over by the legions of Rightist opinion-makers in this country. That this country, and, I believe, yours, or any other, is bound to become socially crueler, more callous and more inhumane when subjected to decades of relentless fear and hatemongering by the Rightwing MSM, cannot really be disputed. at least in my opinion and experience.

He can bend the trees on a golf course too. The Golf Channel now regularly features him waving a lightning rod while wearing giant short pants from the silent movie era. All things considere, including the emergency room visit for heart trouble in Hawaii, his brain is probably becoming sliced limburger.

I agree with AmericaBlog: “If anyone on the left talked like this, the Republicans would have their job in a day. It really is a sign of how badly the powers-that-be on the left play the political game, that Rush Limbaugh is still on the air.”

I’m not particularly left-wing at all, yet I find this man disgusting. I would stop bringing up false polarisation where none exists. I’ll try and explain, so please bear with me.

Yes, in most countries we do have the extreme right (and the extreme left), but most of us are in between those wide goalposts. They are extremists, and they are typically a vociferous minority, just as a thunderstorm makes far more noise than 95% of cloud formations. So, here in the UK for example, you can be conservative, labour or liberal without belonging to those extremes. I’m to the right of some of my friends, but I find the likes of Limbaugh beyond repulsive, as do they. It is possible to be in the centre – as I am and therefore to the right of the left, and it is possible to be on the right of that and not behave like this hate-monger does. What I would prefer to see is extremism marginalised full-stop, because on either political wing that is where it deserves to end up, because the root cause is simple – authoritarianism.

You do not need to be left-wing to wish for fairness and equality. All you need is a sense of fair play.

Cheers – John

[JR: I’m not sure what the “false polarisation” is. It isn’t just Limbaugh on radio, it’s Beck, and O’Reilly and Hannity. While there are people who spread spew disinformation and hate speech in any part of the political spectrum, the extremists on the right have their own TV network and have captured an entire political party on the climate issue.]

Yes, in reflection it wasn’t the best choice of terms. What I was trying to put across is that these guys transcend the traditional right-centre-left divisions in politics. It’s almost as if those traditional divisions can now be placed on one side of the fulcrum and the extreme right on its own on the other. Perhaps these sides can be renamed “ordinary” and “extraordinary” respectively, though I am sure there are more apt terms that people can think of!